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Abstract
We have sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial genome of the soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria, an important organism for environmental toxicology and aquaculture. Mya arenaria is located in the taxonomic order Myoida, which lacks any member with a completely annotated mitogenome. The M. arenaria mitochondrial genome is 17 947 bp in length. Like most marine bivalves, the circular mitogenome codes entirely on the heavy strand, with no introns. As with other bivalves, the gene order of the mitochondrion is highly rearranged. The mitogenome contains 12 protein-coding genes but ATP8 is missing, consistent with about half of all bivalve genera. Twenty-three tRNAs were identified. Phylogenetic analysis shows that M. arenaria is related most closely with the bivalves Sinonovacula constricta, and Moerella iridescens, of the infraclass Euheterodonta (unassigned). This, along with the close grouping of the phylogenetic trees, confirms a close tie between Myoida and Euheterodonta (unassigned).
Acknowledgments
The Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education and Kyle Pepperman provided wild-type clam samples. We thank Profs. Brian Beal, Ellen Hostert, Eric Jones, and Gerard Zegers for critical reading of the manuscript.
Declaration of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. Research reported in this publication was partially supported by the University of Maine at Machias and by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM0103423.